Anna's Hummingbird

It's a very wintery evening with snow, sleet and wind.  We were over at youngest son's to play Mexican Train and on the short drive home we passed an accident just as the ambulance was leaving. It appeared to be a single car that had gone over an embankment. Driving in these conditions is treacherous.

When the weather is this bad we take the hummingbird feeders in for night. I'm always amazed that such a tiny bird can survive in below freezing temperatures. This is what the internet had to say about the Anna's, which is our most common winter Hummingbird ( although I've spotted at least one Rufous as well)...


Anna’s  take advantage of the hummingbird’s motto “When things get tough, the tough go to sleep.” A hummingbird in torpor can drop its body temperature from about 40°C to about 9°C (from 104°F to 48.2°F) and reduce its respiration rate from 245 breaths per minute to 6. It can even suspend its breathing for up to five minutes. The metabolic rate of an Anna’s during torpor can be 300 times lower than when in flight. The savings are significant; they can help a hummingbird sleep through a severe weather period.
A typical winter day might find an Anna’s sucking sugar, slowly turning it to fat, and then going into torpor during the night, living off the stored fuel. An Anna’s can gain 16 percent of its body weight during the day and then burn it all off during a cold night. (Imagine waking every morning 25 pounds lighter.) The fluctuation is extreme enough without adding the energetics of flight. Regardless of the season, awake and flying, a hummingbird is always just a few hours from starvation.

The pictures of the Anna's are also from the internet.

I think it is going to be a week of staying home where it's safe and warm. I hope to take down the second Christmas tree and try to fit the various boxes into my "Christmas Closet" which is under the stairs.  In spite of taking several boxes to the thrift store I seem to have accumulated more than I started with.  I hope you all have a great week no matter what the weather.

Thanks for visiting,  Granny M.